Here’s my big confession: I am not a planner. At all. I totally see the benefits, but I don’t enjoy actually sitting down and planning stuff. I enjoy following that plan even less. It’s not that I’m particularly spontaneous gal, it think I’m just exceedingly lazy. And when it comes to menu planning, I secretly hope that my lack of planning will result in going out to dinner more. Which I really love to do.
But, alas, I have a 10 pound tube of ground beef in my refrigerator that really must be cooked TODAY. So, here’s my plan. And it’s really not that exciting, so I’d love some suggestions to spice it up!
MONDAY: Spaghetti — I plan to cook up about 6 pounds of the ground beef and make 4 meal-sized portions of sauce (ground beef, canned pasta sauce, frozen spinach and some canned diced tomatoes). I’m planning to freeze three and use one tonight.
TUESDAY: Mac & Cheese and Hot Dogs. Totally disgusting, but it’s my daughter’s birthday and she gets to choose. I’m definitely going to make something for my mother-in-law and me.
WEDNESDAY: Breakfast for dinner, which always includes the very best oatmeal pancakes ever. We’ll add some scrambled eggs and a side of broccoli.
THURSDAY: Dinner at friends.
FRIDAY: I don’t know.
SATURDAY: My mom will be in town, so I’m crossing my fingers for dinner out!
SUNDAY: Chicken Cordon Bleu. Ha! Gotcha! I haven’t even showered yet today and you expect me to know what I’m serving for dinner IN SEVEN DAYS?
UPDATE: We’re scheduled through the end of March! I’ll let you all know when we’re ready for more contributors!
CALLING ALL PLANNERS! Do you regularly plan your weekly meals? Would you like to share your plan with the Frugal Living NW community? We’d love to showcase some of your weekly menus each Monday. If you’d like to participate, please contact us a frugallivingonline {at} gmail {dot} com with “Menu Plan Monday” in the subject line. Don’t include your plan right now. I’ll reply back with your scheduled week.
Need more inspiration? Check out the Menu Plan Monday link-up at I’m an Organizing Junkie!
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This so made me laugh! Love the “slacker edition”, but have to strongly disagree on the lazy diagnosis for yourself as I’m in awe that you are able to do this blog with four small kids. Now I’m wondering how you do it without being an “over-the-top” organizer (I thought you had to be one to get it all done). I’m ready to go to your time management seminar 🙂
I saw this post today, and immediately knew what I could make for dinner tonight 🙂 Those oatmeal pancakes are AWESOME! They were a big hit…. my husband doesn’t usually like breakfast for dinner (or pancakes anytime actually), and my 3 year old is REALLY picky- if food looks even a little different than what he’s used to he won’t eat it! Tonight my husband ate a bunch of pancakes, and my son had 2 pretty big (for him) pancakes! So I am keeping that recipe for sure. OHHH I was going to ask you if you have a shortcut for making those pancakes, they do take a bit of time to make. Was thinking of mixing about 5 batches of the dry ingredients at a time to save a little bit of time. What do you do, Angela?
I really try to make healthy and organic meals. I rarely buy processed food. Nothing frozen unless it’s veggies and an occasional pizza (once a month). I believe the processed food and nonorganic food is making people sicker. Diseases have skyrocketed since the 1950’s. The chemicals and antibiotics that they put in food is so bad for our bodies! What happpened to homecooked meals and not eating out? We are a family of four and I try my best to feed my family based off the glycemic index. It makes you’re blood sugars stable. I guess there isn’t a lot of people like me anymore, and I’m only 29. I do use the crockpot a lot. I have made pot roast, fresh lime black bean soup, french onion soup, chicken tortilla soup, pork roast with sauerkraut, pork chops, meat sauce for spaghetti just to name a few from my crockpot. It’s fun to try new things. Is anyone else like me?
Broccoli with pancakes???? 🙂 I know I know…try to get those veggies in as much as you can
We don’t have an actual meal plan regularly. However, I have noticed that the few times that we have done a menu plan, we spend less during the week. The ironic thing is I was with my sister-in-law and her husband (okay my brother in law) and we all agreed that making the menu plan is a great way to spend money better.
I have in my head ideas but nothing is solid. I have my “go to” meals and then we know that a couple of times a week , especially on Friday, we have “take out” food. Usually that is Albertson’s chicken one day and Pizza on Fridays.
Lately, I have been experimenting with slow-cooker meals. Recently, I did a pot roast for my husband to shred up to make tacos since I am not normally home around dinner time because of my work schedule. i hear they were a hit. So much so, that they had it a couple times that week. So i guess you could say, i am experimenting with favorite meals made from the basics so we always have a “go to” meal.
Gosh, I hope that all made sense
I do try!! it really saves our budget and our health:) Plus it gets me to dig through my cupboards and freezer to see what I have:)
oh, i loved this. just when i thought all blogs were about how great of a cook you are, or who frugal you are, or how great a planner you are …. then this! horay for honesty and fun! thank you for a good laugh. i appreciate your honesty! 🙂
Amen! I feel exactly the same way, which is why I absolutely love this blog (and the ladies who write it)! Thanks for the laugh! 🙂
I am a good old fashion gal, usually use hamburger to make bacon burgers, chili, tacos, spagetti or meatloaf. Every now and then I will venture out and cook a Najaho Taco (have no idea if that is what they are really called). Try this recipe when you have time – they are fun! http://www.rhodesbread.com/recipes/view/1686
My best kept secret is Rhodes rolls. If you have the time to thaw them out you can make really fun hamburgers by cooking them up first and then stuffing the roll with the burger, cheese and baking until round. Its so great to give the kids a roll, only to have them bite into it and its a burger!
But hey I am all over mac n cheese and hot dogs too 🙂
When I have tons of ground beef to deal with, most of the kids want me to make a vat (not kidding, I have 5 sons) of sloppy joe. We love the recipe from the America’s Test Kitchen big 3 ring binder cookbook. I multiply it to use 5 pounds of ground beef, so I can freeze some and still have a first meal and a leftover meal. If they don’t just eat the leftovers out of the fridge after sports practice…
This is my new favorite post.
Add in grilled cheese and Papa Murphy’s (hey, at least I got a deal today), and you’ve got our place. Thanks for being real!
This meal plan is my life! It’s funny to see it all written down though, hahaha. Ground beef usually means spaghetti, meatballs, chili, taco soup, taco salad, tostadas (which are SUPER easy and cheap). That’s it. Good luck with the meals. Oatmeal for dinner is always our last resort. I try to add frozen blueberries and some extras to give it more nutritional value.
Of all of those suggestions, I’d do tostadas. Brown the ground beef, add can of black beans, add diced tomatoes with green chiles. Heat. Serve on tostada shells with sour cream, cheese and/or salsa. Super easy and the flavors are fresh yet my toddlers will eat it.
Thanks for sharing!
You can always make meatballs, (I cheat and make them at the same time I make a meatloaf, with the same ingredients minus ketchup), then you can freeze for later use. With the meatballs, you can heat them up on the stove in a frying pan with cream of mushroom soup, and a little milk, season to taste. This is good over plain rice.
On the meal planning, when I do it, I make a list of meals that I have the ingredients for/buying that week, and then I will pick and choose what I feel like making that day.
In the list I try to make sure I have one or two quick meals.
By just making the list I have more flexibility to swap out a meal when I am having an extremely chaotic day and I don’t have to think last minute about what I have in the house to eat for dinner.
What I want to know is what people do when they are leaving on vacation or whatnot… how do they plan the mean before they leave. I hate having to plan THAT meal. I don’t want anything with leftovers and I don’t want to cook while I’m packing/cleaning… but we don’t always plan it out for having leftovers ready for that night. I’m thinking of this because we had to travel last Thursday and are traveling again this Thursday (but this is not normal in my life).
A few ideas:
1) Make a double meal (spaghetti, meatballs, chicken pot pie, soup, enchiladas, lasagna, etc.) the week before and then use that as one of your meals before you leave on vacation.
2) Sandwich night – toasted cheese and ham, turkey melts, hotdogs!
3) Breakfast Burritos – eggs need to be eaten before you leave and I always have a can of black beans, shredded cheese, tortillas and salsa in my stockpile. Add some lettuce, sour cream and avocado or whatever you have on hand in the fridge that will go bad before you return home.
4) Crockpot meal – throw any meat (fresh or frozen) into the crockpot plus some bbq sauce and you have bbq sandwiches. (Got this idea from Angela in her 40lbs. of chicken cookbook!!)
Hope that helps . . . I actually use these meals as end of the week/weekend meals since I don’t always know how far leftovers will stretch.
Thanks! Good ideas for this week. We do have eggs and bread and some extra lunch meat too… hmmm… maybe this will make breakfast dinner and a sandwich dinner for sure!
I usually do pasta because it’s fast, we have it in the cupboard, and it’s yummy. I toss in meatballs (frozen ones I buy at costco) or diced chicken sausage. And then whatever veggies need to get used up.
Or like Krista suggested, sandwiches are great! (If you have leftoever bread and you’ll be gone very long, put the rest of the loaf in the freezer)
I like to do pasta too because I have spaghetti sauce in the freezer (leftover)… but we just had that this last weekend at our family get together.
HA! Friday and Saturday’s plan cracks me up. There are tons of times I actually want to write “I don’t know” or “I don’t care” on my menu plan. And when my mom comes to visit, I can almost guarantee there will be something yummy in the works from her. Hopefully I can be “that mom” to my kids when I get older. Thanks for sharing, hilarious!
Janna~ I would be up for your BBQ meatball recipe! 🙂
I appreciate you being real with us!! THANK YOU!! It makes me feel so much better knowing there are other moms out there who aren’t into cooking or planning… and would much rather eat out! woo hoo! (of course we can’t do that every night.) but reading your blog keeps me going…. because of the awesome ideas, and helping me get a glimpse into the lives of other real moms out there. SUCH a blessing.
I love meatloaf, throw that on the menu and use some of your oats you got at the sale;) Or I have a super yummy recipe for meatballs with homemade BBQ sauce that are delicious!! Everytime I’ve ever served them to company, they love them, my family loves them and so do i;) Email me if you want the recipe. I love to double it, flash freeze the balls and have a dinner ready to pop into the oven at a later date. And beleive me when I say you sound just like me…I don’t love to cook, or plan ahead or follow the plan, and I love to go out to eat or eat a dinner someone else made;) And NO, I’m not showered yet either;) I’m planning out my couponing trip for tonight. I just got into this a couple weeks ago – AND I LOVE IT!! So THANK YOU for all you do!!
Can I have your BBQ meatballs recipe? princess_beth at hotmail dot com